Psychopathic Genius
by solitaryloner
Summary: As a police officer, part of the Special Forces Unit, Gumi thinks her life could be more exciting. Then one day, people start dying - and they're all people from the police force. Gumi is placed in charge of cracking the complicated crimes, but the murderer never leaves behind any trace. How can one solve a serial killer case when the murderer happens to be a psychopathic genius?
1. Chapter 1

_**Solitaryloner:** I PROMISE. This is the last new story I will post before I finish any other story. It's just that I'm suffering from a new syndrome. It's called the, I'm Sick Of Writing Only Romance Syndrome. I adore romance, but...even I need some variety and all. The main characters are Gumi and Piko. Romance, if any, will be extremely minimal._

_Also, the country here doesn't refer to any country in particular. Not even America. It's sort of my own made up world...yeah. I want this story to seem realistic, and I want it to seem as though it could have happened anywhere. Well, good luck to me._

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''There's been a murder down town.''

The one sentence captured her attention better than anything else could. Gumi, a young and aspiring police officer, put her cup of carrot juice down on her table as she registered the words. Her Commander, Ted Kasane, just stared blankly down at her, waiting for her to react. Calmly, she swallowed her gulp of the juice.

''Well, what do you want me to say, Commander?'' Gumi finally asked, shrugging. She spun around in her swivel chair, tapping impatiently at the keyboard of her hibernating laptop. There was a loud humming sound as the laptop screen blinked to life, and her fingers flew across the keyboard as she scanned her email inbox for any details on the new case.

No doubt, she would be put on the team for investigation, but she wouldn't be in charge of the actual operative, since she was still considered too inexperienced. She exhaled - how disappointing. Sure, she had only been with the Special Forces Unit for the past couple of months, but she had hoped for something interesting to happen, at least.

So far, all she had taken a part of were some crackdowns on drug kingpins, and a couple of foiled terrorism plans. Obviously the gangs down town were being handled by the normal operatives - the Special Forces Unit was for bigger things. Important situations which threatened national security. A murder? That was nothing. Murders happened down town all the time - it was a part of life around there.

''I'd thought you'd be a little more interested,'' Kasane arched an eyebrow. ''I'm putting you in charge this time. Haven't you always wanted to be in charge of your own mission? Well, now I'm granting you that wish. You're the leader.''

Gumi shot up, right out of her chair. ''Really?'' she asked excitedly, her meadow green hair fluttering into her face. Irritably, she brushed the green hair out of her eyes. ''But why?'' Sudden suspicion took the place of joy, her voice becoming flat. ''I thought you've been saying that I was too inexperienced to lead any unit yet. How about all the others?''

Gumi was young, one of the newest additions to the Special Forces Unit. She had only been around for about two months, so far. Before that, she had been a part of the normal, everyday police force. Her superiors had seen potential in her, though, and she had been put through an entire series of tests - enough that they had decided to promote her to Special Forces. It had been a great honour.

Special Forces was...a unique section of the police force. They were highly trained and specialised. Some referred to them as Special Ops - it was the same thing. They dealt with matters of state and national security. They were...the highest tier of defence, in a way. Their training was rigid and tough, and people were allowed in upon an oath to never reveal any secrets about the unit.

If you were ever found to break the oath, it could mean death. At the very least, you would be exiled from the unit, from the very country itself. Gumi swallowed - sometimes, she wondered whether it had been a good idea to join the Special Forces Unit. At least the normal police force didn't try to kill you if you let anything slip. Special Ops was like some kind of Mafia, where all members swore to secrecy.

''The others?'' Kasane snorted. He was her Commander, the highest ranked officer in the Special Forces. He had been the one who had decided to allow her into the highly exclusive ranks of Special Ops. She had never seen the Commander out doing fieldwork, but he was reputed to be a frighteningly accurate marksman, capable of shooting targets from a hundred or two metres away.

Rising through the ranks of Special Ops required much training, patience and gruelling effort. Cracking a case where large shipments of heroin were being smuggled into the country? Foiling a terrorist attack? Arresting potential assassins at any state affairs, before they could strike down the President? That was all nothing. Half of the other Special Ops members had led missions which had done the same things.

To stand out, you needed to have done something particularly interesting. Something which made people respect you, something which could impress and awe others. Like...let's say, another one of her superiors, Miku Hatsune. She was a tough officer - it was rumoured that she had turned in her entire family upon finding out that they had had several dealings with the local Mafia.

Miku Hatsune was Ted Kasane's favourite officer, and also Gumi's partner Len Kagamine's girlfriend. The blond was obsessed with his high-flying girlfriend. Gumi shuddered, shaking her head at the thought. Sometimes, the way Len looked out for Miku crept her out...it was almost as though the blond couldn't stand for anyone else to approach the tealette.

''They're all busy. Miku's been sent overseas to infiltrate...one of the state's enemy networks. You know how good she is at spying.'' That was true. In addition to being an excellent, rigid officer, Miku Hatsune was an international spy, and one of the best few the state had. ''Gakupo has been sent out to do fieldwork. He's scoping out the airport, there's been rumours of planned terrorist attacks there.''

''How about Luka? Meiko? Kaito?'' Gumi questioned. Ted shrugged, running his fingers through his red hair. His strangely coloured, maroon eyes slanted at her as he stared at her from behind his black-rimmed glasses. Gumi still wondered, though - how strange. Was she really the only one eligible to lead the investigation, for this one murder?

''Luka's working with Kaito and Meiko, the three of them are busy hunting down someone who's been sending death threats to the President,'' Ted shrugged. ''Look, if you don't want to take on the case, I'll give it to someone else. Like Dell Honne, he's been complaining of boredom lately. But I wanted you to helm this case since I think it's about time you started leading.''

Dell Honne? Gumi's eyes widened - no, she was not giving this up to that cigarette addicted workaholic. ''I'll take it, Commander sir!'' she saluted him, as how the Special Ops people were supposed to respect their superiors. She frowned. ''But it's just one small little murder, down town. Murders happen there all the time. This isn't part of our job scope - aren't we supposed to handle just national security?''

Ted frowned and opened his mouth, but then he was interrupted by a new voice. ''Well, true, normally murders would be handled by the local Homicide Unit, but then this is a special case,'' her best friend, the silver haired Piko Utatane, walked into the Special Ops room, holding onto a clipboard as he adjusted his spectacles.

Piko had been a friend of hers ever since college. He was a genius, and one of the police force's best psychologists. He studied criminal behaviour and understood how they worked - he also held a degree in psychiatry, and he occasionally helped out at the nearby mental hospital when they were short-handed on staff. Piko was handsome, with his strange dual coloured eyes - one green, one blue.

''How did you know about this, Utatane?'' Kasane stared at her best friend. Piko shrugged, looking rather bored as he flipped through the papers on the clipboard. Gumi wondered where he had got the clipboard from - she could see the Special Forces Unit logo on the back. The slender twenty-five-year-old ran his fingers through his silver hair, a look of abject distaste on his face as he stared at the papers.

''I nicked it off Kagamine's desk,'' Piko explained, noticing the way Gumi was staring at the clipboard. ''That's how I knew, Kasane. You are an idiot, Commander - no offence to you, naturally. Of all the people you could have told first about this little murder, you went and told Kagamine. Little wonder he's walking along the rooftop right now. I saw him heading up there as I was walking to your office.''

Gumi blinked. ''Wait, why is Len up on the rooftop?'' she asked, not noticing the way the Commander's face had paled. Piko shot Ted another look, this time a look filled with droll knowingness, before he sighed and faced her. Gumi was long used to Piko's general lack of respect for authority - she supposed it was because of all the intelligence in that mind.

They had known each other ever since college. Best friends...only Piko could identify with the way Gumi's mind worked, and only Gumi could put up with the cutting, stinging remarks that Piko was always making. In college, Gumi had studied psychology too, but she had entered the police force upon graduation, unlike Piko.

Ever since young, she had wanted to join the ranks of the police. After all, fighting crime and bringing criminals to justice...that had been her ambition, ever since young. She adored her occupation, and she didn't find it very tiresome or extremely tough, like how some of the officers in the normal force did. Perhaps her enthusiasm for her work had been a major factor for her promotion to Special Forces?

Piko held out the clipboard for her. ''Read it. It has details of the case inside, everything you need to know. This is no ordinary murder, Gumi. A police officer has been killed, and it wasn't in the line of duty. Not to mention, this officer wasn't stupid or careless. Her death is no accident - no wonder Kagamine is so shocked now. Damn, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to just jump off the building.''

Gumi frowned, taking the clipboard from Piko's outstretched hand. As she did that, Kasane drew Piko to one side, apparently having started an argument with the silver haired psychologist. Whatever Piko's reply was, it was biting - Kasane's face darkened. Gumi ignored them, instead focusing on the clipboard. What was so special about this particular police officer, such that the Special Forces themselves had to be sent to deal with this particular case?

Murders were usually handled by the Homicide and Suspicious Deaths Unit, after all. Her eyes scanned the papers quickly - a body, found in one of the ghetto areas down town. Strange details noted about the corpse was that all the hair had apparently been shaved off...the corpse was completely bald. A young woman, about twenty-five years old...apparently blonde, judging from her eyelashes. Blue eyed. Petite.

Gumi flipped over to the next page, then she felt her eyes widen in shock. Photos of the corpse and the crime scene were stuck on this page. And what shocked her was, not only did she recognise the dead body, she had once been good friends with this girl, as well. She swallowed, setting the clipboard down on her table - Kasane and Piko looked up at her.

''I need to go down town right now,'' Gumi whispered. ''I need to see this. I want to know what happened there. How long ago did the murder take place? What evidence is there?''

''Tests say that the victim died at around midnight, last night. The area has already been swept and cleared of anything suspicious, but you're welcome to take another look if you wish,'' her Commander inclined his head at her. ''You will lead this case, and find out who her killer is. Bring Len, Dell and Mizki with you.''

''How about Yuma?'' Gumi asked, her brain kicking into overdrive. Yuma was her senior, and he was much more experienced than she was at this kind of thing. Dell was experienced too, but more on the drug aspect of their work. Len and Mizki had joined Special Forces at the same time she had, so neither of them would know very much about what to do.

''Yuma is needed. Miku has reached us - there's been some problems involving the spy network overseas. Yuma is being sent over to rectify the problem. Is there anything else?'' Kasane asked, his voice droll. Gumi shook her head.

''I need to find Len before he does anything stupid,'' she muttered, striding out of the Special Forces gathering room. Piko followed after her, looking faintly concerned - honestly, she was rather grateful for his presence. She felt like she yearned for comfort, for someone to tell her that it was all just a nightmare, even though it wasn't. Piko wouldn't comfort her, though. He would slap her back into reality.

She had never before seen another person as cynical as Piko Utatane was. She could always count on this best friend of hers to provide her with bitingly sarcastic remarks...remarks which would yank her out of her self-pity, and into reality. ''Why her?'' Gumi muttered now as she entered the lift, viciously jabbing at the lift button for the rooftop floor. ''She never did anything to deserve being murdered.''

Piko shrugged, his dual coloured eyes narrowing. ''It's not like the killer would care about what kind of person she was,'' he reasoned. ''It depends on what kind of murderer it was. Was there an objective? Was it a crime of passion? An simple act of violence? To solve the mystery of her death, we need to identify what the killer is thinking, first.''

Gumi bit nervously on her lower lip. ''I just hope that Len is fine,'' she mumbled, pressing impatiently again at the blinking lift button. ''After all, the victim is his own twin sister.''

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_**CONFIDENTIAL: SPECIAL FORCES UNIT: MURDER CASE #1**_

_Victim: Rin Kagamine_

_Gender: Female_

_Age: 25_

_Hair: Blond_

_Eyes: Blue_

_Job/Rank: Police Officer/Head of the Homicide and Suspicious Deaths Unit_

_Cause/Time/Date of Death: Unknown/Midnight/21st July_

_Defining feature: Hair has been shaved off._

_Location: Down Town, Ghetto Alley 346_

_Possible suspects: Unknown._

_Case status: Unresolved._


	2. Chapter 2

Gumi and Piko finally made it to the rooftop level. As they stepped out of the elevator, Gumi saw Len standing at the very edge of the building, staring listlessly out at the sky.

''Len!'' she panicked, hoping that the blond wasn't really considering jumping off the building. She felt slender fingers wrap around her arm, and she glanced around to see that Piko's hand was clutching on to her wrist tightly. He shook his head at her, his dual coloured eyes regarding Len with wary curiosity.

''You can't be sure about whether or not he really is suicidal right now,'' he murmured, softly so that the blond would not be able to hear. ''Don't do anything to attract his attention. Just sneak over up to him and pull him off the edge - you don't want him to be pushed beyond his limits and really jump to his death.''

Piko's words made sense, though she still couldn't help worrying that Len was entertaining thoughts of killing himself. She was worried that while she sneaked up on him, he might decide to just throw himself off the building. And if that were the case, she and Piko both would be unable to do anything. A police officer and a trained psychologist were both unable to revive the dead, after all.

Gumi swallowed and nodded. Slowly, she carefully and quietly crept over to the blond, to the person who was her partner out in the field. Len was a good person, nice and humorous. It was really a pity that his twin sister died - Gumi bit her lip to hold back a sigh. Why did Rin have to be the victim? Rin was as kind and sweet as her brother was...she hadn't deserved to die.

The blond was still standing on the edge, teetering dangerously between solid ground and empty air. He hadn't noticed Gumi approaching him - in fact, he hadn't even appeared to have noticed her calling out for him, earlier. Taking a deep breath, Gumi leapt up, clutching his shoulders, then pulled him down onto the ground. He didn't resist, going along with her, body limp and unresponsive.

Piko hurried over to both of them - Gumi was getting up from the ground, checking her elbow. When she had pulled Len down, she hadn't expected him to be so unresisting. She had yanked with more force than necessary, and she had ended up crashing onto the ground, scraping her elbow in the process. But it was only a tiny little scratch, and there didn't appear to be any other serious injury.

She was more worried about Len. She and Piko exchanged a look - Len was still unmoving, his cerulean gaze staring upwards into the sky. He didn't seem to care about them, or that he had just been pulled off the edge of a building's rooftop. He just lay there, looking as though all the life in his body had been sucked out of him. Which was more worrying than suicidal-ness.

''Len?'' Gumi tried, waving her hand before his face. He was lying flat on his back, his blond hair coming loose around his face. Gumi and Piko both crouched down at either side of the blond's face, exchanging yet another look. Not that Len appeared to care or even notice that Gumi and Piko were leaning over him.

There was a sigh, and then Piko ran his fingers through his silver hair. ''Let me try something,'' he muttered, and Gumi nodded, wondering what tactic Piko would try to jerk Len out of his trance. ''Desperate times call for desperate measures,'' Piko continued muttering under his breath, which really made Gumi wonder about what Piko was thinking of doing.

With a faint look of disgust on his face, Piko shoved his silver hair out of his face. Then he leant down, his face getting closer and closer to Len's. In a flash, Gumi understood what Piko intended to do, and she felt her cheeks heat at the thought. No, she did not want to watch this - though at the same time, she couldn't seem to drag her eyes away from the scene unfolding before her. Piko noticed her ogling.

''Look, since you know what I intend to do, then just look away from us already, dammit,'' Piko snapped impatiently at her. ''This isn't exactly easy for me, okay? I do not want to have to do this, but it's the easiest and fastest way to snap him out of this stupid daze - unless you want to give it a try?'' he offered, sounding almost pleading. Gumi coughed and shook her head.

Piko rolled his eyes. ''I knew you'd react like that,'' he muttered some more. Evidently deciding to ignore his transfixed audience, Piko just leant forward and pressed his lips to Len's, his silver hair falling forward to hide his face. Gumi just continued staring at them, strangely mesmerised by the sight of two boys kissing each other. Now that was one thing that she had never seen before. How...interesting.

Len's blank cerulean eyes widened a little as Piko continued to kiss him, and then he reacted, his arms reaching up to shove the silver haired psychologist away from him. The blond police officer sat up on the floor, coughing and gagging. It was all rather amusing, actually. ''Oh God, did you just kiss me?'' Len demanded, wiping frenziedly at his mouth with the back of his hand. Piko just glared right back at him.

Piko was washing his mouth out with some water. He had taken some bottled water from her desk earlier, now that Gumi recalled. ''Trust me,'' Piko said after he had spat out the mouthful of water he had been washing his mouth out with, ''I didn't enjoy that either. But it was the only way to wake you up, since you were essentially behaving like a zombie. And you weren't responding. We were desperate.''

''Why couldn't Gumi be the one who kissed me?'' Len demanded, gagging a little again. Gumi blinked at his words, wondering since when had she been drawn into this little conversation. ''I'm sorry to break this piece of news to you, Utatane - I just don't go that way. But I'm pretty sure that Kaito might be bisexual, you could always go and ask him about whether or not he's interested in being your boyfriend -''

''Spare me the misery,'' Piko cut across Len's ranting, his voice droll. ''Even if I really did happen to be gay, which I am not, I wouldn't ask Kaito out for anything. Given a choice between having Kaito for a boyfriend and dying a lonely single death, I'd rather pick eternal single-hood,'' he rolled his eyes in disdain. ''You should be grateful I didn't just leave you there to die. I could've done that, you know.''

Gumi expected Len to say something along the lines of, ''I'd rather die than let you kiss me'', but instead of that, Len's cerulean eyes became hooded. He stared down at the floor, his fingers clenching into fists. ''Maybe it would have been better if I had just died,'' he murmured quietly, his head lifting so that he stared out at the edge of the building. ''At least I might get to meet my sister again then,'' he continued, sighing.

Piko's fingers wrapped around the collar of Len's shirt, and then Gumi watched as the silver haired man forcefully pulled Len up from the floor, making the blond blink in surprise. Gumi rose after the two of them, noticing with some disappointment that she happened to be shorter than both of them were. She could still remember that back in college, Gumi had actually been about the same height as Piko.

Piko had suddenly got a late growth spurt, and now he was about half a head taller than her, the same height as Len Kagamine was. And she was shorter than both of them were. Oh, joy. ''You are not going to harbour thoughts of committing suicide when I was forced to kiss you just to wake you up,'' Piko retched lightly as he said those words. ''Is that understood?''

Len glared at him, but slowly he nodded. ''I'll try not to kill myself if you swear that you'll never kiss me again,'' he mumbled with dark humour, eyeing Piko the same way a person would eye a chained, feral tiger - with intense wariness and suspicion. Piko shrugged and let go of Len's collar, evidently not minding that condition.

''I would agree to that even without the promise,'' Piko brushed his hands down his white shirt. ''Now, as you may know, you're part of the team that is going to be sent out to investigate Rin Kagamine's death. And I'm the psychologist who is affiliated to this case,'' Piko smiled evilly, and Gumi shuddered. The last time he had been affiliated to a Special Ops case, the results hadn't been very...pretty.

Every single case had a psychologist from the police force affiliated to it. And Piko, being one of the top psychologists in the force, tended to specialise in murder cases. He was good at his job, but he was also incredibly frightening when he got around to analysing his suspects. The previous time she had seen him work on a case, he had asked to be allowed to question the suspect, in place of the usual police officers.

Normally, police officers would be the one who got around to questioning a crime suspect. Psychologists were the ones who sat by the sides, analysing the suspects' behaviour. Psychologists were also brought in whenever the police needed help in hypnotising someone - yes, hypnotism did help out in solving quite a number of cases, murders or not. Hypnotism was actually quite a useful skill.

No, not hypnotism like the tricks magicians did in magic shows. This hypnotism was rather more like...psychoanalysis. It brought the person needing the hypnotism back to revisit his past, so that he could relieve some past experiences and possibly realise some new information that he might have missed previously, in his memories. As mentioned, this was actually a very useful trick to have.

After obtaining the clearance to question the suspect, Piko had made her crack within five minutes. He had managed to obtain the identity of the true murderer the suspect had been covering up for. He had also managed to learn of the whereabouts of the murderer's hideout, and the location where the last victim's body had been buried. Piko was very, very good at his job, but he also always somehow managed to turn his victims into gibbering fools.

Gumi had no idea how he did his work. Piko Utatane just had this ability to suss out the way people's minds worked. With one or two simple, seemingly innocuous questions, he was able to glean a great deal of information from someone, even if that person was being wary of what they were telling him. And with what he learnt, he could coax, cajole or threaten anyone into spilling all their secrets out to him.

Len stared at Piko with the same kind of horrified glee that Gumi was feeling. Glee for, if Piko was the one affiliated to this case, the identity of his sister's murderer would be figured out as soon as they laid hands upon the right suspect. Horror because, like everyone knew, once Piko was done interrogating the said suspect, they were going to have to send the suspect to the nearby mental hospital.

Well, one good thing Gumi could say about Piko and his style of interrogation was that it brought the mental hospital plenty of business. Most psychologists didn't drive the people they questioned mad, but Piko did. And he did so frequently. No one ever had any idea how he did it, for even though interrogations were usually recorded on tape, Piko didn't like it whenever his interrogations were recorded.

Following the wishes of the rather eccentric psychologist, no one ever recorded down his conversations with his suspects. They all just knew that Piko somehow always got the suspect to crack and let something slip. Gumi suspected that Piko didn't want anyone recording him because if other people started learning his effective way of interrogation, his large pay check might be cut a little.

''Are there any suspects at the moment?'' Len asked, finally breaking out of the lifeless husk he had been, mere moments ago. His blue eyes became filled with a steely determination, and Gumi wondered whether it was hearing that Piko was their affiliated psychologist which had snapped Len out of his daze. Most of the time, murder cases which had Piko as its assigned psychologist tended to be resolved quickly.

''None,'' Gumi answered, speaking for Piko as the silver haired psychologist began walking off wordlessly. She and Len trailed after him as he walked into the elevator. ''So we need to talk to you...since you're the only lead at the moment. You're...her brother, after all,'' Gumi hesitated at the look on Len's face. ''Anyway, we might be able to glean more information by going to the forensics department. There might be clues.''

Len shuddered as the elevator door closed behind them. ''I'm not going anywhere near the forensics department,'' he said flatly. She knew it was because he didn't wish to see his sister's dead corpse. ''I'll try to tell you what I can, but I don't know much - I wasn't with her last night,'' his gaze turned sad. ''I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to her,'' he whispered softly, looking down at the floor of the elevator.

Gumi exchanged a glance with Piko. Outwardly, Piko seemed as unmoved as usual, though she knew she wasn't imagining the faint flickers of sympathetic pity which went through his dual coloured eyes. ''Despite that, do you have any leads that might trace back to her killer? Or do you know of anyone who might have had a motive, an agenda for killing Rin Kagamine?'' Piko asked his questions emotionlessly.

Len thought, his fingers clenching into fists. ''Last night, I spoke to her over the phone...'' he murmured. ''I told her that I had to work overtime, so I wouldn't be able to return home. She told me that she was meeting an old classmate of hers, at some cafe...I think that it was at the Aston's Cafe, the one which just opened up down town. That was the last I ever heard from her,'' he finished, voice quivering.

''About what time was she going to meet her classmate?'' Gumi questioned. Len blinked, shaking his head slightly as he tried to recall. The blond man's fingers ran agitatedly through his hair, clenching and unclenching.

''About eleven pm or so,'' he finally said. ''If I remember correctly. Possibly slightly earlier. I don't know what her classmate was called, though - it could have been anyone back in school. She didn't even tell me whether it was a classmate from middle school, or high school, or university. Other than this, I can't think of anything else which might help,'' he groaned, leaning back against the elevator wall.

Gumi patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. ''Don't worry, Len,'' she tried to sound comforting. ''We'll track your sister's murderer down, and then you can personally apprehend them yourself...since you're part of this team,'' she smiled at him. ''Later we'll go to the cafe you mentioned and ask around. Maybe if we know the identity of your sister's classmate, we'd be one step closer to solving this.''

''I can only hope for that,'' Len muttered. The elevator made a 'ding' sound, and then they noticed they were at the forensics department floor. Len paled and backed away. ''You...you two go on,'' he said weakly. ''I really don't think I can face this, not right now,'' he mumbled, his back pressed against the wall of the elevator.

Gumi and Piko did as he requested, and as they stepped out they watched the elevator doors close, the elevator going back up to the Special Ops department floor. She glanced at Piko, who appeared to be deep in thought. ''Do you have any ideas about the identity of the killer? Would it be an intentional murder or manslaughter?'' she asked him, wanting to know his opinion.

Piko's dual coloured eyes darted up to meet her gaze. ''I might have a bit of an idea,'' he said slowly. ''But it's just an idea, no more than that...'' his gaze lingered curiously on her. ''I can't confirm anything until we have more information or evidence,'' he added. Gumi nodded at that - Piko was a genius who could piece seemingly impossible puzzles together, but even he was no miracle worker.

''Let's take a look at what Forensics might be able to give us,'' Piko murmured absently, stepping aside to let her past the glass door. Gumi shot the door a nervous glance. She had never liked Forensics - she didn't like the idea of probing and investigating pieces of evidence...of staring at a dead body as she tried to figure out how the deceased came to that state. Especially not when the deceased was her good friend.

Piko noticed her hesitation, and the silver haired man's lips tilted up into a sly smile. He bowed to her. ''Ladies first, of course,'' he grinned, holding the glass door open for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Gumi did not like the Forensics Department. As Piko knew full well. That probably explained the sadistic smirk adorning the silver haired man's face - he enjoyed watching other people squirm. The sadistic little prick. Gumi ignored him.

''Here to find out more about the body?'' Gumi glanced up, at the sound of a familiar voice. Mikuo Hatsune, Miku Hatsune's younger twin brother, had just stepped into the reception area of the department, snapping the elastic white gloves he had been wearing off his hands. He nodded at Piko, acknowledging his presence, and Piko returned the pathologist's silent greeting. The two respected each other.

''I'd prefer not to,'' Gumi winced, ''but yes. Did you...find out more about her death?'' This sentence was spoken uncertainly - Rin had been a good police officer, friendly and well liked by many. Her passing was a grave blow to many of them. Mikuo's gaze darkened, and he coughed into his hand, obviously trying to avoid Gumi's probing gaze. He shrugged helplessly.

''I did, not that I think it'll really help...'' the teal haired man said slowly. ''You'll understand what I mean, later,'' he added, at the look of confusion on her face. Gumi blinked, then turned back to exchange a look with Piko. All Piko did was arch an sardonic eyebrow at her, then tilt his head in Mikuo's direction. Gumi looked back to see that the pathologist had walked off.

Hastily, she followed after him. Mikuo had walked off towards what she had dubbed, the 'Cutting Room'. Yes, she knew the name wasn't exactly very creative. Not that they usually dissected bodies, not unless they couldn't help it, but still. The fact that the whole Forensics Department carried out their work in that particular room crept her out. She sighed at the thought, ignoring Piko's eye roll of disdain.

''We've run some tests on the corpse,'' Mikuo explained as they walked, glancing back to make sure that the both of them were still following. ''We've learnt...a few things. But there isn't exactly much to link her death to anyone...unless you've managed to get some kind of lead from Len?'' Mikuo asked, meeting Piko's eyes as he spoke. Piko frowned.

Gumi looked around, not bothering about the two men. She had never really set foot inside this place before, avoiding it like the plague. It was only when she had absolutely no choice did she ever visit the Forensics Department. The area they were at...surprisingly, it looked more like a living room than an police department. She supposed the dead bodies and such were...further inside. Out of sight, out of mind.

''I don't know whether it can be considered a lead or not,'' the silver haired psychologist said slowly. ''We do know, from Len, that the last thing Rin said to him was that she would be having dinner with an old school friend, at the Aston's Cafe down town. That conversation took place over the phone, and it was at night, so...we can safely assume that Rin was killed after that dinner. We could follow that lead.''

Mikuo nodded. ''That would make sense. If they ate at the cafe, of course. Her blood glucose levels are higher than usual,'' Mikuo added, at the questioning look on Piko's face. ''Which would mean that she was killed...maybe about an hour after she had last eaten. But there are other pieces of evidence, too,'' Mikuo smiled crookedly. ''It's amazing, what people can find out just by examining dead bodies.''

''You're a sadist, Mikuo,'' Gumi rolled her eyes at his words. Mikuo just shrugged again, his forest green eyes slanting over to meet hers. His smile widened a little as they reached a glass door - the door that led to where the dead body lay. Rin's dead body. At this thought, Gumi swallowed - this was too sudden. All too sudden. She didn't know whether she was prepared to meet her...dead friend's corpse.

''Well, I spend all my time in here, with no one but the dead for company,'' Mikuo said easily. ''Do pardon me if my sense of humour seems rather...dark, at times,'' as he spoke, he leant down, towards a keypad on the wall. Swiftly, he keyed in some numbers, then closed one eye. A ray of light shone forth, scanning his iris, then the sensor's lights turned bright green.

The glass door slid open, allowing them entry. ''They've beefed up security around here,'' Piko noted, staring at the sensor and the keypad on the wall. Mikuo grinned, stepping inside and waiting for the two of them to pass through. Gumi hung back a little, after Piko - she was still feeling reluctant about the whole thing.

Frankly, despite being a police officer in Special Ops...she hadn't seen that many dead bodies before. Usually, she handled drug smuggling and terrorism. The like. Murder cases...no, not so much. Unlike the stereotypical view people had of police officers, Gumi was not okay with seeing dead people. Especially not when the said dead person had been a good friend.

''Teto's idea,'' Mikuo answered, mentioning one of the other forensic scientists who worked in the lab. ''Remember that huge scandal, when we lost the corpse from the morgue? Well, Management hardly wanted a repeat of that happening. So they added this. Now, only those with Forensics clearance can pass through...which can be a bother some times, but it's better to be safe than sorry,'' Mikuo finished.

Gumi turned to stare at Piko. ''Why didn't I hear anything about a missing body?'' she asked, feeling slightly out-of-date. Her friend just shot her a grin, a wicked glint in his dual coloured eyes. Gumi resisted a shiver - she wondered what it would be like, for a patient to stare at Piko, and realise that this sadistic man was going to be their assigned psychologist.

''Because when Ted Kasane was talking to the Special Ops people about it, you were off at Sweet Ann's Pastries, stuffing your face with carrot cake,'' Mikuo answered for Piko. Gumi flushed at the teal haired man's words, and opened her mouth to protest - but Mikuo cut through. ''Don't bother denying it. My sister told me. She saw you sneaking off, and pretty much guessed where you were headed.''

And Gumi thought that she had been so discreet about the whole thing. She scowled, feeling faintly embarrassed. ''Whatever. Anyway, tell me about the missing dead body?'' She knew it wasn't exactly relevant, but then this sounded interesting. And Gumi was always fascinated by a good tale, whether any of it was relevant information or not. One could never know when all these stories could be important.

''Well, remember the uproar it caused, back when the previous president shot his attempted assassin, a month ago?'' Gumi nodded - it was because of that trauma that the president had resigned, before his term in office had been up. ''Well, we brought the assassin's body back to the Headquarters, to take a look at him. The forensics scientists left the body alone for an hour, and when they came back it was gone.''

''Gone?'' Gumi blinked. ''You mean...as in, it had disappeared?'' Piko nodded. Gumi looked to Mikuo for confirmation, and he shrugged, his lips setting into a scowl. The subject was obviously still a rather sore point for him, and Gumi hastily turned her attention back to the psychologist. ''How? Did anyone manage to find the body?'' she asked, feeling a strange mixture of both curiosity and slight disgust.

''No, and that's what's so strange about it,'' Mikuo interjected, sounding frustrated. Of course Mikuo wouldn't like it. He was the head pathologist here, and anything that embarrassed his department probably embarrassed him as well. ''How the hell can a dead body move on its own, I ask you?'' he demanded, sounding like he was questioning himself. ''It was supposed to be dead!''

''Well, one of Life's great mysteries, I suppose,'' Piko said drolly. ''Perhaps one day, the body will be found, walking around like some shambling zombie. Until then, we focus on the main task at hand. Shall we?'' Piko stared hard at Mikuo, who sighed irritably. He pushed open yet another door - the door that led to the forensics lab. Gumi gnawed on her lip, still feeling reluctant about stepping inside the dreaded room.

Gumi and dead corpses simply did not mix. Piko, sensing her hesitation, unceremoniously pushed her inside, and she went in with a squeak. The two men let themselves inside, after her, and Gumi stood by the side of the room, her hands balled up into fists by her sides. She tried her hardest to look at anywhere in the room...anywhere other than the table that lay in the middle, covered by a white sheet.

Mikuo, who obviously didn't feel the same sense of trepidation that she did, walked across to the operating table, tapping his fingers lightly against the cold metal. ''Well, she's still here, at least,'' he muttered, turning around to glance at Gumi, then at Piko. ''We haven't cut her up - there's no need to. The cause of death is...rather obvious, in this particular case.''

''What was the cause?'' Gumi's voice sounded strange, even to her own ears. She chanced looking down at the table, and instantly had to choke back a gasp. Rin. She lay out on the table, the white sheet covering her body, her eyes closed. But the blonde looked anything but peaceful, even while she lay in death.

There was a faint scowl on the blonde's face, and it made her seem as though...she was still alive. It was the look of someone who had died, still dissatisfied with the world, and that cemented the theory that everyone had. That this was a murder. No natural death would look so...tormented. As though they had died before their time. But who was the murderer, then?

Gumi found herself wishing that Rin would suddenly just rise up from the dead, and provide them with some kind of clue. But the logical side of her knew, if Rin's corpse really did such a thing, Gumi would probably run screaming out of the room. Along with Mikuo and Piko, likely. The dead did not come back to life - if they did, then Forensics wouldn't be needed, to investigate their causes of death.

Rin's beautiful blond hair had been completely shaved off, leaving nothing but a faint blond fuzz on her scalp. Gumi knew that Rin couldn't possibly have done it to herself, given the way the blonde loved her hair - so who could have done it? She exchanged a glance with Piko, who was frowning down at the body. He glanced up at her. _The murderer didn't like her much, _she lip-read, watching Piko's lips moving.

''The death is obviously an unnatural one,'' Mikuo peered down at Rin's petite body. ''Take a look.'' Unceremoniously, the teal haired man slid the white sheet down, from where it had been tucked around Rin's chin. Gumi grimaced at what she saw - there was a long, deep gash there, reaching from the front of her neck to disappear, around the back. The wound was a serious one, exposing torn tissue and muscle.

''I would say loss of blood was the cause of death,'' Mikuo went into lecturer mode, obviously in his element here. ''But if that was so, then...she would have been unconscious, possibly. Otherwise, the murder attempt would have been discovered sooner. People generally do not remain silent while someone attempts to slice their neck open,'' Mikuo gently pulled the sheet back up, obscuring the wound.

''Is there anything to prove that she had been unconscious, while the murder had been taking place?'' Piko asked, as Gumi continued staring down at Rin's body. Were it not for the wound she had just seen, Rin would look like...she was asleep. But not peacefully. She looked like she was trapped in the throes of some nightmare, unable to claw her way out. Gumi couldn't help but wonder if that was an ill omen.

''Well, we did some blood tests,'' Mikuo explained, walking over to a table at the side. There was a sheath of papers there, and he picked it up, sliding on a pair of black rimmed glasses while he did so. ''Her blood contained traces of sleeping pills...but not the kind which you usually find in pharmacies,'' Mikuo added. ''These sleeping pills are generally banned from public consumption, due to their potency.''

''Then why does Rin's body contain traces of the pills?'' Gumi asked, staring at the documents Mikuo was holding. Mikuo shrugged, looking rather thoughtful as he fanned himself with the papers. Gumi had no idea why he was fanning himself - it was freezing in here. The labs were always freezing, so as to preserve the bodies as much as possible, during the death analysis.

''I don't know,'' he said simply. ''I'm the forensics scientist. I find the evidence. You link it all together, and Piko frightens the suspects into confessing everything.'' Gumi saw Piko's lips twitch. ''But if you really want my opinion? Whoever the murderer is had some obvious connection to hospitals, because only doctors are allowed to prescribe this particular pill. You might want to ask after the local doctors.''

''Doctors? You mean, the psychologists as well, or only...'' Piko trailed off. Gumi shot him a sharp look - Piko seemed to be thinking of something, an intense light shining in his dual coloured eyes. He seemed to have figured something out, from the look on his face.

''Psychologists won't have the access to these drugs,'' Mikuo confirmed. ''Let's leave. You've interrupted my preliminary examination, actually. I haven't finished fully examining the body...I wasn't expecting you so early, to be honest. All I know so far is the cause of death, and that drugs are linked to this whole thing,'' he frowned. ''What I want to know is, why did Rin take sleeping pills to begin with?''

Piko took hold of the sheath of papers, his eyes scanning the words quickly. Gumi took the chance to speak to Mikuo about her thoughts. ''Was it an overdose?'' she questioned. Mikuo shook his head, casting the covered body on the table another glance. He sighed.

''Only enough to make her feel groggy. Disoriented,'' he said slowly. ''We can rule out suicide, in this case. Thyromide is extremely potent, and usually it's reserved for extreme cases of insomnia. Thyromide is the name of the pill,'' Mikuo added, at the inquisitive look on Gumi's face. She nodded, absorbing the piece of information. Maybe Len would know something about whether his sister took sleeping pills?

The slap of paper against a table made her jump, and she looked around. Piko was staring at the corpse again, his eyes narrowed. ''We need to take a look at the cafe she was last known to be at,'' Piko said tersely. ''If we can identify who she last ate with...that's the only lead, the only possible suspect, that we have. If we can't use that lead, then we run into a dead end. And it's much too soon for that.''

''Weren't there any other pieces of evidence at the scene? Other than the body?'' Gumi asked Mikuo. Mikuo frowned, seeming to think. Instantly, she wondered why she had asked him - after all, he hadn't been there. The forensics scientists didn't exactly accompany the officers, whenever they went to the crime scenes.

''Well, from the reports I heard...there were blood stains around,'' he said slowly. ''On the alley walls. You should have the pictures. You have the address of the crime scene, no? Perhaps you should go there and check it out, yourself. The others might have missed something. But there wasn't anything physical, other than the body...no weapon, no anything,'' he shrugged, looking faintly concerned.

''This murderer is smart,'' Gumi muttered. She glanced at Piko, who looked grim. ''Any ideas so far, on who the murderer might possibly be?'' She doubted it, but she asked, just in case. It was possible that Piko might have guessed at something - the man's IQ was astounding.

''Nothing, not yet,'' the genius mumbled, his eyes distant looking. His gaze met hers. ''But we should go to the crime scene first. I might be able to figure out something then.'' At the mention of the crime scene, Gumi thought of blood-stained alley walls, Rin's blank blue eyes gazing at her. Where the murder had taken place, where a life had been forcibly ended.

Gumi shuddered at the thought. She was a police officer...but that didn't mean that she was particularly fine with gore and violence.


End file.
